These vacation spots showcase the world-class work of influential architects and furniture designers. Best of all, they're taking reservations.

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Stay - Copenhagen

Three years ago, when the team behind Stay commandeered this former artists' squat, they vowed to remain true to the building's roots. That may not have been a huge consolation for ousted occupants, but it does mean that the loftlike rooms and apartments in the 1963 structure retain the vibe of a creative enclave—complete with original graffiti on the walls. Not to worry, though—the place has also been classed up with an on-site bakery and a grocery store, glass-enclosed bathrooms, and minimalist black furniture by the local manufacturer Hay. The effect is a blank slate on which colorful characters work and play.

Inntel Hotels Amsterdam Zaandam - Zaandam, Netherlands

Not since the 1920 unveiling of Amsterdam's Het Schip—an Expressionistic brick building designed to resemble the silhouette of a ship—has Dutch architecture been this much fun. From the imaginative minds at Delft firm WAM, the property is composed of nearly 70 timber and clapboard façades layered onto a concrete shell. The effect brings to mind a 12-story Rubik's Cube. But rest assured, the leather-wrapped platform beds, Luceplan lighting, and Alessi bathroom fixtures keep the venture from becoming too Vegas. Better yet, the inn represents the first phase of a redevelopment project that will give the river city a calling card.

Treehotel - Harads, Sweden

Roughly 35 miles south of the Arctic Circle, Harads is home to fewer than 600 inhabitants. For a long time birds were the only visitors to alight here each summer, so it's fitting that the town's jaw-dropping hotel complex is hoisted into the foliage. The six "rooms," designed by five different architects, and the Nordic-style sauna are accessible only by bridges and ladders (one remote-controlled). Sure, there's nothing new about losing yourself in nature, but you can't beat disappearing into a 12-foot mirrored aluminum cube by Stockholm up-and-comer Tham & Videgård, whose Moderna Museet Malmö museum (formerly an electricity station from 1900) was nominated for the 2010 best new cultural building at the World Architecture Festival.

Mandarin Oriental - Barcelona

This project by Patricia Urquiola, a protégée of Achille Castiglioni and Piero Lissoni, has a lot of drama to offer for a 98-room getaway. But once you start exploring the property—two restaurants, a bar, pools inside and out—Urquiola's talents become even more apparent. She has masterfully incorporated modern shapes (furniture by Moroso, Flos, and Molteni), elements of Mediterranean style (Bassano ceramics, antique Spanish tile floors), and old-fashioned luxe (velvet upholsteries, a Chesterfield sofa) into the Asian aesthetic that defines the Mandarin Oriental brand (Tai Ping silk-wool rugs, large cotton screens, lacquered armoires).

The Waterhouse at South Bund - Shanghai

In Shanghai, where entire neighborhoods are routinely razed to make way for new buildings, Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu's industrial-chic design is a shining example of making the most out of what you've got. The local architects—known for Design Republic, the first high-end international design shop in Shanghai—gutted a 1930s Japanese-army headquarters near the Shiliupu dock, adding 19 hotel rooms without disturbing the building's façade and its crumbling concrete walls. After replacing the failing wood roof with one of rusted Cor-Ten steel (and adding a sleek bar), Neri and Hu used the reclaimed beams to make tabletops for the restaurant, at which Gordon Ramsay alum Jason Atherton presides. It's a respite from the hustle of the city, whose skyscrapers loom just outside the windows.